Histopathological Features of Non-Neoplastic Breast Parenchyma Do Not Predict BRCA Mutation Status of Patients with Invasive Breast Cancer

BACKGROUND Several studies have evaluated histologic features of non-neoplastic breast parenchyma in patients with BRCA1/2 mutations, but the results are conflicting. The limited data suggest a much higher prevalence of high-risk precursor lesions in BRCA carriers. Therefore, we designed this study to compare the clinicopathological characteristics of peritumoral benign breast tissue in patients with and without deleterious BRCA mutations. METHODS Women with breast cancer (BC) who were referred for genetic counseling and underwent BRCA genetic testing in 2010 and 2011 were included in the study. RESULTS Of the six benign histological features analyzed in this study, only stromal fibrosis grade 2/3 was found to be statistically different, with more BRCA noncarriers having stromal fibrosis grade 2/3 than BRCA1/2 carriers (P = 0.04). CONCLUSION There is no significant association between mutation risk and the presence of benign histologic features of peritumoral breast parenchyma.